That fear conditioning activates the amygdala (impulsiveness, aggression, negative emotions), a part of the brain that is prone to respond twice as fast as the frontal lobes ( impulse control, critical thinking, emotional intelligence).

“That being in power for too long often leads bio-chemical addictions which can disrupt normal cognition and emotion, leading to gross errors of judgment, an imperviousness to risk, huge egocentricity and lack of empathy for others.”

Do not believe something just because it has been passed along and retold for many generations.
Do not believe something merely because it has become a traditional practice.
Do not believe something simply because it is well-known everywhere.
Do not believe something just because it is cited in a text.
Do not believe something solely on the grounds of logical reasoning.

Oh — that’s good to know. That means we can ignore the strict teachings that the self is an illusion, and that Buddhist women can become nuns, but they can’t advance nearly as far as men. Because according to Buddhist teachings it is impossible for women to become “the perfectly rightfully Enlightened One.”

I spend most of my spare time bringing awareness about the pitfalls — though some have thought of me as being as too negative about religion. I’m not down on religion, per se. I do have disdain for authoritarian religions that promote fear and lie to people even when they learned it was BS in seminary.

I agree. It bothers me not whatever folks chose to believe. If their lives are made better for it, great. They DO NOT deserve a tax exempt status for this however, and they DO NOT have the right to ram their belief down my throat and tell me I’m evil for not seeing the truth of their ways. Refrain from this, and believe as you will. I for one feel there is not enough talk of the harm religion does or can do to people. Your blog is a much needed one. Religion is treated with deference and kid gloves. This allows the bullshit the Catholic Church has done to continue to go on. Pedophile rapist priests need to be incarcerated and those who distribute and hide them across the globe need to be as well. This has not happened. Not nearly enough anyway. It is sickening, and the gloves need to come off. In the words of the great philosopher, Plato, “Fuck ’em all for being dicks!” OK, Plato never said that, but he should have.

I agree with everything you say in this post!! I think the concepts you discuss here are so important because people tend to talk more about the “benefits” of religion, rather than the very real dangers of religion.

The first two nuggets, and the fourth, reminded me of — if I may toot my historical Christianity and its real origins and rise horn — my post: “Constantine: Christianity’s True Catalyst/Christ” (http://wp.me/p1uLmp-3u) and exactly how the Movement was able to seize the Roman and Roman-provential masses into indoctrination, which continues to this day, even more so, with our growing socio-economic gap in the U.S. The similarities are remarkably uncanny; or not, for those like you Victoria. 😉

When a large swath of people are oppressed and in fear for their well-being, they will resort to desparate measures, particularly “miracles” and their “sources.” Military revolution can or cannot play a significant part in social-economic reform, e.g. Constantine & his Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, the American Revolution, and Civil War a century later, World War I, World War II because of post-WWI, and in the modern era, the never-ending conflicts over the “Holy Lands” (oil-rich regions) spilling over into “Jihads” by other hyper-impoverished societies and inequalities turning to desparate measures and/or scriptures.

Utterly amazing how history repeats itself among less-than-educated/evolved societies!

Yet, on the opposite end of that spectrum, your nuggets about power and control, lead ultimately to corruption (hyper-neuro rewards?), and finally to the exact same thing: social-economic collapse. When will the pure scientific historical data FINALLY be accepted and embraced??? When religious elitism is extinct, I think. 🙂

Professor, I really enjoyed reading your thought-provoking reply as well as the post you shared. I couldn’t agree more when you wrote in your post:

“Today, all Christian denominations and off-shoots were fathered by the Vatican…and in turn fathered by Constantine. ”

Spot on. But so few Christians know this (or want to know this) because they are so focused on the remembrance of cotton candy kiddy songs of their youth “Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so.” It’s sad that people are willing to allow themselves to be so gullible, forgoing critical thinking for the sake of feeling loved/acknowledged by a Bronze/Iron Age war god (Yahweh — Jesus’ daddy) with very human Bronze/Iron Age intellect, that demands faith to believe in it and complete submission (no questions asked). What a brilliant and diabolical strategy the Vatican and Constantine came up with, eh? It worked, hook, line, and sinker. “Fi$her$ of men.”

You wrote: “Utterly amazing how history repeats itself among less-than-educated/evolved societies!”

Humans pride themselves on being the most advanced species on the planet, when in fact, humans are, for the most part, rather stupid. Recent studies have shown that approximately 95% of the humans follow in crowds without their conscious awareness like —wait for it —> sheep. Gee, what did Jesus call his followers? 😉 I am reminded of a quote:

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ~Aldous Huxley

Yes to all. “…approximately 95% of the humans follow in crowds…” reminds me of the mounting studies, research, and findings that we STILL possess much of the “primal ape” community habits formed over millions of years. The similarities and social behaviors are fascinating! Lol 😉

Yes, yes, YES! That is spot on. Yet “the church” will simply use circular logic to explain this back to their Supreme Being, as revealed in Holy Scriptures, as God’s immanent domain, etc, etc. Sort of like your previous post/article about how much “Love is Blind”. 😉